In his last week in office, Mayor Francis Suarez secured City Commission approval for a grant to a for-profit events company — after organizers warned a venue change could hurt profits.
The Miami City Commission last week approved a $250,000 grant requested by outgoing Mayor Francis Suarez in his final days in office, steering the bulk of his discretionary spending to a for-profit events and branding company based in California.
The grant, approved unanimously and without discussion at Thursday’s City Commission meeting, was awarded to Mascot Sports, a sports and entertainment marketing firm that produces endurance, fitness and wellness events for major brands.
Mascot Sports’ local partner for the event is Miami Marathon cofounder Frankie Ruiz, a Miami-based fitness event organizer and ally of Mayor Francis Suarez. In 2022, Suarez bestowed on Ruiz the honorary title of Miami’s “chief wellness officer.”
Suarez did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Supporting city documents say the funds will offset lower-than-projected ticket sales after Mascot Sports’ preferred downtown venue became unavailable for a 5K road race and post-race concert on Jan. 17 featuring celebrity DJ Diplo.
The event will be held at Maurice Ferré Park.
Tickets for the run and concert start at $128.80, including processing fees. Event organizers say they expect about 9,000 people at the five-hour event.
Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, who voted in favor of the appropriation, also did not respond to questions from the Spotlight.
During a Zoom call with residents ahead of Thursday’s meeting, Pardo, whose district includes downtown, said he would honor Suarez’s request. “This is within the mayor’s discretionary allocation,” he said. “He hasn’t used it, and this is what he’s choosing to use it on.”
Each budget cycle, the mayor and each of the five commissioners are allotted funds to use at their discretion — subject to a four-fifth supermajority vote of the commission. Such funds are typically used to help cover short-term funding gaps for social service organizations and to support local nonprofit groups and events.
This year, Suarez’s discretionary spending account was allotted $300,000 from the city’s overall $3.8 billion budget. (The budget also includes two other spending accounts controlled by the mayor, totaling $525,000).
Oakland-based Mascot Sports specializes in producing branded fitness-related events that combine athletic competitions with music, entertainment and corporate sponsorships. The privately-held company, founded in 2016, also provides branding, communications and content services for clients in the sports and entertainment industry.
In a recent interview, Mascot Sports founder and CEO Ryan Dawkins explained that planning for January’s “Diplo’s Run Club” event began nearly a year ago, for what it hoped would mirror similar Diplo-branded events in other U.S cities, some of which have drawn more than 20,000 people.
But it never locked in its preferred venue to stage the sprawling event – the 32-acre, city-owned Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.
And earlier this fall, with Mascot Sports already selling tickets and lining up paying sponsors, their request to rent the park was denied, with city officials citing noise and traffic concerns during the same weekend nearby hotels were hosting visiting teams for college football’s national championship game.
Instead, city officials offered neighboring Maurice Ferré Park, just a few blocks north. Ruiz and Dawkins balked, claiming a smaller, less accessible venue would cut into their profits, which are earned through ticket sales, sponsorships, and brand placement.
Enter Suarez.
Ruiz, hired by Dawkins to handle local logistics and planning for the run and post-race concert, told the Spotlight that Suarez agreed to subsidize organizers with the $250,000 grant because of his commitment to promoting health and wellness in the city.
“Francis was pretty steadfast on making the event happen,” Ruiz said.
Dawkins said without the grant his company might have walked away. Both Dawkins and Ruiz declined to say where the idea for the subsidy came from — company officials, Ruiz or Suarez himself — but argued that it is a good use of taxpayer money, reaching the threshold of “public benefit” as the law requires.
“In all the cities we go to, we’re a huge part of the local wellness initiative,” said Dawkins. “It’s hugely important to get people moving, to get them healthy, because it benefits everyone.”
